What can my baby do this month?

Your baby is getting much better at using her hands. This will be useful at mealtimes as she will learn to drink from a two-handled cup by herself. She will soon be able to clap, and may show her appreciation when you sing to her, too!

Watch out for your baby drooling more this month. Many babies cut their first teeth at this age. A chilled teething ring can help soothe those sore gums.

When will my baby be able to support her weight on her legs?

Your baby may be able to support some of her weight on her legs if she is holding on to you or a chair (Sheridan 2008). She will also love to bounce. Stand her up on your knees and support her under the armpits, and bounce her up and down for as long as she wants to. This will strengthen her legs ready for walking.

Your baby may even be able to sit unsupported, which will free her hands for exploring and reaching for toys (Sheridan 2008). She may even be able to get into a sitting position from lying on her tummy, by pushing up on her arms.

How can I encourage my baby's coordination?

Your baby is getting better at grasping, moving, and manipulating objects with her hands and fingers. These are known as her fine motor skills. Fine motor skills are those small actions, such as picking up things between the thumb and finger, or using the lips and tongue to taste and feel objects.

Your baby may now be able to hold and sip from a two-handled cup. She may need a little assistance from you though, in case she drops it. Now is also a good time to teach your baby how to drink from a beaker.

Your baby may be able to scoop up a toy with one hand, and transfer it to the other hand easily (Sheridan 2008). She may also be able to clasp her hands together and clap, with some help from you (Sheridan 2008). Before long, you'll probably notice the noise level increasing. Not only is your baby babbling, but she is also finding out how much fun it is to bang objects together.

To help your baby get the hang of these new skills, place a toy just out of her reach and watch her try to get it. If she cries because she can't quite reach, keep giving her gentle encouragement, but not the toy. She will become physically confident more quickly if you don't make everything too easy for her.

After a few attempts at reaching for a toy, your baby may be able to lean forward, grab it, and then straighten up again. Of course, this will give her ideas and she'll want to find ways to grasp other just-out-of-reach items. Your baby will make more of an effort to get what she wants.

Once your baby learns to roll over on to her tummy, she may get into the parachute-drop pose where she lifts her head and legs off the ground (Sheridan 2008). She may then start to move around on her stomach in a commando crawl. From here she may get up on to her hands and knees and rock backwards and forwards.

Your baby will probably learn to crawl from this position, but frustratingly for her, she may move backwards before getting the hang of crawling forwards.

When will my baby start teething?

Your baby may already have started teething. Most babies start teething at around six months, though it can start as early as three months or four months, or as late as 12 months or older (BDHF n.d., CKS/NICE 2009). About now you can expect to see her first teeth breaking through. The bottom two front teeth, called the lower central incisors, are usually the first teeth to emerge (BDHF n.d., CKS/NICE 2009).

Don't be alarmed if your baby has gaps between some of her teeth. They often come through the gums at odd angles, and any spaces should disappear after all 20 baby teeth have broken through.

Once your baby starts teething, you can expect her to put objects in her mouth and gnaw away at them (NHS 2014). You can also expect a fair amount of drooling as your baby adjusts to the arrival of her new teeth.

My baby won't listen when I tell her no. What should I do?

By now, you may already have found yourself telling your baby that the telephone is not a toy. Or maybe your gentle reminders result in her tossing her rattle in your face. When she pushes back, she's not being disobedient or wilful, she's just curious. She also can't remember things for more than a couple of seconds at a time (Sheridan 2008). The best tactic is to distract her from what she is doing.

How can I help my baby through separation anxiety?

Your baby may begin to show some signs of separation anxiety by becoming shy with strangers and upset if you try to leave the room without her (Sheridan 2008).

Your baby's reluctance to be separated from you may delight you, but also frustrate you at times. In either case, it may help to load a laundry basket with her toys and move it, and her, from room to room. Then you can get things done while enjoying each other's company.

If your baby is anxious when she's away from you during the day, her concern may be worse at bedtime. When she wakes up at night, even for a moment, she'll know you're nearby, and will be vocal about trying to get your attention.

You'll feel torn between wanting to take her to your bed, and the worry that this may spoil her and create a habit that's hard to break. It won't hurt to indulge her occasionally by bringing her to your bed. When the separation anxiety disappears, you can teach her to sleep by herself again.

Alternatively, you could take some of your bedding and lie beside your baby's cot. Your being next to her provides the reassurance she needs, but at the same time reinforces that her cot is the place where she sleeps at night.

Can my baby identify different objects?

Your baby probably won't know which objects are toys and which aren't, so she may make a beeline for your mobile phone if it's lying around. But she's beginning to understand what different objects can do, and she may show more interest in the ones that excite her.

If you have items you don't want your baby to play with, put them out of reach. At seven months old she can't be expected to know which items are fine for her to play with and which aren't.

She may also see how objects relate to one another, so she may be able to sort toys, grouping items by size. And if she admires her reflection in a window and you suddenly appear behind her, she may turn and look. She no longer thinks you're actually in the mirror!

A simple game of peekaboo is fascinating to your baby, because she's also beginning to understand that objects still exist even if she can't see, hear, or touch them (Ruffman et al 2005, Sheridan 2008, Shinskey and Munakata 2003).

Your baby loves games where people or things appear and disappear. She'll remember that the jack-in-the-box pops up at the end of the song, and may shriek with laughter every time he pops up (Sheridan 2008). You can also entertain her with a game of peekaboo by hiding your face or an object behind a blanket for her to discover.

Which games will stimulate my baby?

Your baby may enjoy playing the same game over and over because she likes predictability. As well as peekaboo, try adding classics such as round and round the garden and pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake to your repertoire.

Your baby may also love stuffed animals, both big and small. Most likely, one will emerge as her favourite security object and will soon be covered in dribble (and have to accompany you everywhere).

When adding new members to your soft toy collection, look for soft, well-stitched, stuffed toys that can be washed. Other good toys include balls, stacking cups, pop-up toys, and large dolls.

If your baby has a favourite plaything, you may start to realise that the expression "as easy as taking sweets from a baby" no longer applies. While it used to be easy to remove things from her grasp, you may now find her protesting loudly when you take toys and other things away.

Is my baby developing normally?

Each baby is unique and meets physical milestones at her own pace. These are simply guidelines to what your baby has the potential to do, if not right now, then soon.

If your baby was born prematurely (before 37 weeks of pregnancy), you'll probably find that she needs more time before she can do the same things as other babies his age. That's why most babies born prematurely are given two ages by their doctors:

Chronological age, which is calculated from your baby's date of birth.

Corrected age, which is calculated from your baby's due date.

You should measure your prematurely born baby's development against her corrected age, not her actual date of birth. Your doctor and health visitor will assess your premature baby's development from the time she should have been born, and evaluate her skills accordingly (Hall and Elliman 2006).

If you have any questions at all about your baby's development, talk to your doctor or health visitor.

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Comments

My 7 month old little girl.. Started crawling early 6 months.. She's doing loads, her development is brillant..standing up on furniture, crawling,saying mum,feeding herself.. There's so much shes doing.. I couldn't be more happy..

My baby is 7months, and is moving to every corner of the house. He's able to stand by himself, as long as there's a chair or something to hold on to. His lower central incisors have shown up too. I'm pretty much impressed by his development.

My 7 month old started crawling last month and is already pulling herself up on furniture and trying to cruise! It looks strange as she's tiny! May have an 8 month walker on the way but I think it's because she's determined to be like her almost 2 year old Sister already! :-/

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